Architecture

Morning News Roundup: Nov. 5, 2013

Architecture news and views from around the nation and beyond.

Back in October, NBBJ's design for a new five-story, three-sphere headquarters for Amazon won the approval of a Seattle design-review board. That means two things: One, new renderings of the project are now available, revealing detail not available before of the project as conceived at night and from the air.

Credit: NBBJ

Consider, too, the new detail seen in the star-like intersections where the multifaceted spheres' many faces meet.

Credit: NBBJ

Two: The design could fetch the go-ahead from the city if Seattle's office and planning department gives NBBJ its blessing. Amazon should know before the end of the year. [The Seattle Times]

President Obama’s Climate Action Plan creates a task force of eight governors and sixteen local officials from in developing plans to build structures more resilient to climate change. Hoboken, N.J. Mayor Dawn Zimmer joins the task force and notes that “Hurricane Sandy caused more than than $100 million in private property damage and more than $10 million in damage to municipal property.” [Mother Jones]

The city of Boston, fresh off a World Series win, is ready to take on climate change. City officials propose new zoning laws that would require developers to address natural disasters caused by climate change in their construction plans. [The New York Times]

Lu Jun and his son, Lu Xun, both Chinese real-estate developers reveal a $164-million development in a forest in Nanjing, a project designed by top international architects. At the center of the complex is the Sifang Museum, designed by New York architect Steven Holl, FAIA. [The Wall Street Journal]

“It now seems entirely possible that what was once deemed so striking and original about each Apple store’s glowing white silhouettes, polished metal and sharp angles—a style so distinctive Apple trademarked it—could soon strike shoppers as sterile and imposing.” This, in an essay on what McDonald's must learn from Apple (and vice versa). Big Mac indeed: Perhaps the new McDonald's master architect will take this lesson to heart. [Quartz]

London School of Economics (LSE) will host an international design competition for a $161 million building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields district. [AJ]